Okay, my question is:

What is your on-ice warm-up routine?

__________________
Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I usually do 1-2 laps of russian stroking fwds then bkwds. Then back spins, single jumps, lunges and spirals sometimes.

I think they may have been asked already but

Do you do a warm down and if so what is it?

__________________
beks~
"winning isn't everything... wanting to is."

" the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary"

"It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at pracitce that counts; it's what you put into the practice."

Usually just drinking hot chocolate with my skating friends
and then cycling a few miles home (I've been told I'm too flexible some places to stretch out immediately after being active)

What do you work on the most: Elements you do good or elements you're really terrible at? (Honestly! )

(What's Russian stroking btw?)

I tend to try to work on elements I can't do that well (e.g. spins), and once I get fed up or de-spirited, I start doing things I'm better at (e.g. footwork), occasionally doing the bad stuff too but not as much.

What's a good way to gently improve turnout, without damaging your knees or anything?

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

I can't answer the prior question, so please let it stand.

Russian Stroking is also known as Perimeter Crossover stroking. That is the stroking where you skate a left outside edge, crossover (I do progressives), then hit a left inside edge. Repeat for that direction.

At least *my* coach calls that Russian stroking ;-)

Hugs!
Danielle

I'll answer the question about turnout with one word: ballet. If you can't take classes, there's a book by Peter Martins called "The NYC Ballet Workout", or something like that, that's supposed to be good. I would think you could find it on Amazon.

Do you take any kind of off-ice classes? I take ballet once a week during school and three days a week during the summer, and I also took ballroom for awhile last year.

__________________
Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

Yup that's it!

Well in the summer the session i take comes with an off ice class.. but this winter/fall I will be taking pilates and ballet.

I don't have a question so anyone can just ask one for me.

__________________
beks~
"winning isn't everything... wanting to is."

" the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary"

"It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at pracitce that counts; it's what you put into the practice."

OK, let's work off of CanAm's question.

I don't currently do any off ice, but I would like to. My club doesn't have any adult-focused off ice (and I don't want to be with the kids), but another club nearby does. The problem is that it hasn't fit into my schedule so far.

Are you planning to test anything any time soon? (For me, Intermediate MIF next month, I hope.)

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Well, since I turn 25 later this month, I want to take Pre-Bronze, Bronze & Silver Moves and Free ASAP. Plus Intermediate Moves before the end of the year.

What was the last thing you tested? Mine was Juvenile moves last March. Third time was the charm for me!

Heck no! I was smart enough to eek out a Silver freeskating test before MITF became mandatory for adults. I may never test again! Ha!

Have you ever seen a video of your first test/competition? I still laugh my butt off when I watch mine. Deer in headlights!

Oops! POsted at the same time. I'll answer again.

Obviously, last thing tested was Silver freeskate.

Have you ever seen a video of your first test/competition?

Not my first, but I recently went back and watched some of my videos from 1998-1999, and then my Paso Doble from my first Novice competition in 2001. Painful.

How many dances have you learned?

__________________
Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

Out of the 23 in the regular Canadian dance tests, I have been taught 19.5 of them at one point in my life. I know Sr. Bronze (Ten-Fox, 14 step, European) up to Quickstep and Westminister and a bit of the Argentine from the Gold test, and I have to relearn Preliminary (Dutch Waltz, Canasta, Baby Blues)and Jr. Bronze (Swing, Fiesta, Willow) dances for the coaching course I'm taking. Lots of dancing for me!

What's the most amount of times you've had to retry a test, and what test was it?

The second figure test. I have no idea how many times I tested and failed the darn thing -- probaby three. I hated figures! (Which makes me wonder -- how far could I have gone if they had had MIF's in the 70's instead of figures since my freestlye was so far in advance of my figures....oh well -- doesn't matter now )

Have you had a "WHOOPEE!!!" moment in your skating lately?

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Yes, recently I was practicing spirals and my instructor and another instructor were screaming (yes, yes, I bragged about this in the lessons thread, it's just rare that I get such a reaction from my skating).

If there's anything you could take from one MIF (or FS or dance) test and put it in another test level, what would it be? (I'd swap the power 3s in Bronze MIF for the alternating 3s in Pre-Bronze--I think the power 3s are easier than the %*&$ alternating 3s!)

I would take the power pulls from pre juv MITF and swap them with the prelim alternating forward 3s. I've been doing power pulls for nearly as long as I've been skating.

Are there any moves that you simply cannot do your "normal" skating direction? (for me, twizzles come more easily CW than my usual CCW)

__________________
"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

I cannot hydroblade in my normal direction. I can only go clockwise, not counter clockwise. I'm working on CCW, but it's not going to well.

What's your first skating memory?

Feeling like a right prat doing that backward walk thing to start learning going backwards ..... for some reason I could go forwards fairly 'ok' so don't really have memories about that!

What's the funniest thing that your coach has said to you?

__________________

The best whisper is a click

It wasn't actually repeatable on a public forum, but the funniest thing I heard a coach - not actually mine - say that is repeatable was when he got out his wallet while his skater was doing her programme, and we went, "Huh?", so he went, "I think she must have dropped a five pound note on the ice, as she keeps looking for it!"

What can you now do that you despaired of ever being able to? For me, it is turning at speed, which I still can't do without a partner, but can quite well with one.

__________________
Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Honestly, I don't think there's anything I've learned that I didn't think I'd get eventually. But I have a funny story that's kind of related to this question. In December 2001, I finally passed my Foxtrot on my third try. I struggled with that dance for months, and my coach kept telling me, "One day, this dance will be absolutely nothing to you. You won't be able to believe you had so much trouble with it." I said no way, I was never going to be able to do it easily, etc. Well last week, I had to take the ISI dances that I hadn't taken yet to qualify for ISI Nationals. (Because I've passed Pre-Silver in USFSA, I had to pass through level 5 to compete; I actually took through level 6 since those are the same dances I'm working on in USFSA except the European, whcih I've passed). Anyway, my coach and I are on a very crowded Juvenile-Intermediate session waiting for the judge to arrive, and we start going through the dances we hadn't done in awhile- the Fourteenstep, Foxtrot, and European. We've been doing the Rocker and American to death lately anyway. We went through the Foxtrot, which I quite literally haven't done in the year-and-a-half since I passed it, and my coach just stopped and looked at me. I was expecting a lecture about something I had forgotten, but instead he asked me if I remembered when he told me I would one day do this with no trouble. I knew exactly what was coming, and he looked at me and said, "I'm going to enjoy this. I-TOLD-YOU-SO!"

Has your coach ever lost his/her temper with you?

__________________
Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

Yes. I had one coach who was quite hot-tempered and would yell at me quite a bit for jumping too close to the boards and for being afraid to try things.

What's your most embarassing costume moment?

This wasn't really embarassing - mostly just painful. When I was sixteen I fell in warmup for competition on a double loop. In the fall, I basically ended up siting on the end of the blade. Cut open the bottom of the dress (and my bottom too). Mom sewed it up (the dress, not my bottom) and I still competed, but the dress was ruined.

Do you like doing moves in the field? (I hated figures, but don't mind MIF's).

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

I wasn't crazy about figures, but I preferred them to MIF by a long shot.

What MIF are you working on right now? I'm on Novice- probably part of why I say I preferred figures!

__________________
Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

I like Ina Bauers!!

How do you get your balance on a layback spin?

__________________
Lisa
I need a partner!!
Je cherche un partneur (parle en Englais si vous plait)
KTJADPA GLFDJEDV UWW

I am starting to work on my Gold MIF and am competing the 8 step and slide chasse at the Peach.

How many people from here have you met? (I have met a lot of people, and have even competed against Flutzilla, Skaternum, Ice T, JLyon, LWalsh, and Taz (of the top of my head) and have met lots of others!

Hugs!
Danielle